Essential Margate Travel Guide: What to See & Do

Margate is a distinctive seaside town in Kent, where Victorian holiday traditions meet a lively contemporary creative scene. Located on the Isle of Thanet, it faces wide sandy beaches and the open North Sea, giving the town a strong connection to coastal leisure and maritime history.

Margate’s Seaside and Medical Heritage

The sea has long shaped Margate’s identity. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, visitors came to the town for the supposed health benefits of bathing. The pioneering Royal Sea Bathing Hospital also introduced open-air treatment for tuberculosis, giving Margate an unusual place in medical history.

The hospital’s former building has since been converted into homes, but it remains a reminder of the town’s distinctive relationship with the sea and coastal health treatments.

Art, Literature and the Sea

Margate also has a strong literary and artistic character. T. S. Eliot spent time in the town while recovering from a breakdown, finding inspiration in the shoreline and the changing moods of the sea.

The timber shelter overlooking Margate Sands and Nayland Rock, associated with his stay, still survives as a listed structure. Today, Margate’s galleries, independent cultural spaces and seaside architecture bring new energy to its historic setting.

Things to Do in Margate

For travelers researching things to do in Margate, the town’s appeal lies less in a formal checklist than in its contrasting atmosphere. Visitors can experience traditional promenades, historic bathing landmarks, broad beaches and a renewed arts culture.

Food, local creativity and the relaxed pace of coastal life complete the experience. Among the best places to visit in Margate are the seafront, historic bathing areas and literary landmarks. Together, they reveal a town shaped by health, imagination and the enduring pull of the English sea.